Guaranteeing IEC Secure Power Connections

There is a big push in the data center industry to address the major problem of Independent Electrical Contractor (IEC) plugs coming loose on equipment & power strips.

Have you been experiencing this issue due to appliance vibration or accidental disconnects when maintenance and cabling work is performed in your racks?

If so, PTS recommends and distributes five different IEC Secure Power Connections to meet the needs of data center operators. To learn more click here.

Retail Industry PCI Compliance Support

PCI 11.1 mandates retailers must execute a wireless scan once per quarter, per store. Given that on average a scan runs ~$300, for a 700 store retailer that equates to an $840,000 annual expenditure. Worse, retailers that fail Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) audits can be fined hundreds of thousands of dollars.

To support this requirement, PTS Data Center Solutions has teamed up with Fortinet as its 'go to' supplier in helping our retail clients reign in these costs and ease management of PCI compliance. And, not just we recognize that, check out the IDC, Gartner, and Frost Market Summary Report.

To learn more, read our recent IT Solutions Bulletin - Fortinet for Retail Industry PCI Compliance.

Data Center Maintenance Management Solution Version 2.0 Available Today

PTS Data Center Solutions recently announced Version 2.0 of its Data Center Maintenance Management Software (DCMMS). DCMMS first launched in March 2010 and is a "glue" product used in data centers to support maintenance management, track spare parts, schedule preventive maintenance, track service histories, and generally make life easier for data center operations personnel.

The software works with any of the Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) products available today which include discovery tools, real-time monitoring tools, BMS solutions, and IT monitoring and management solutions. DCMMS is used to maintain facility support infrastructure products in many data centers and from many manufacturers.

PTS uses DCMMS as a key component of its Data Center Managed Maintenance Service offering. The service provides various support levels from software only to software and asset maintenance tracking to full 7x24 outsourcing of asset maintenance management.

To learn more Click Here or Contact PTS.

UPS Configuration Availability Rankings

Peter Sacco, President & Founder, PTS Data Center Solutions, recently wrote a new white paper on UPS Configuration Availability Rankings.

Reliance on technology has elevated data center availability from a lofty goal to an absolute necessity. As such, the configuration of the UPS system is vitally important in achieving high-availability with respect to the power side of the universe. This paper explores a number of different UPS configurations, how they contribute to availability, and who manufactures them.

Pete's conclusion is that UPS configurations depend upon a number of factors including: level of availability required/desired (i.e. Tier class), IT load requirements, power input, and budget. Understanding these factors and their impact on UPS configuration and design will result in a suitable UPS purchase to meet user and IT load requirements.

For the complete white paper, please visit the PTS Media Library (log-in required) or contact us to receive a complimentary PDF.

Which is higher availability 2N or N+2?

Modular scalable solutions continue to drive our industry to improved efficiency and availability. Most know about modular cabling infrastructure, CRAC units with VFDs and scalable UPS technology, but did you know you could also have modularity and scalability with your chillers?

Most understand that modular solutions improve efficiency, but many believe that a 2N design is higher availability than a N+2 design. Not so fast, 2N is 2 component failures away from an outage where N+2 in a modular design is typically 3 components away from having reduced capacity. So why doesn't Uptime consider N+x designs for any of the critical components in it's tiering ratings? For that matter why isn't there a data center rating system that considers the improved availability of N+x designs?

CleanZone Premier Contamination Control Zone Solution

Typically PTS focuses on high tech design considerations and solutions for your data center, computer room, server room, or network operations center. However, we are extremely impressed with the performance of the CleanZone Premier solution from UK Company, Dycem.

The product is designed to attract, collect, and retain contaminating particles which collect on your shoes before you enter the mission critical room.

To learn more about how Dycem products work, check out the PTS Data Center Design Channel Dycem video, click here or contact PTS.

Why You Should Consider VMware vSphere 5

There are several choices available for server, storage, and desktop virtualization. VMware's vSphere solution continues to lead the pack in terms of features and functionality. With its recent release of version 5 for both vSphere and Site Recovery Manager, VMware responds to client and partner requests to improve speed to deploy, response to disaster, and the ability to run its solutions independent of platform (i.e. now from a smart phone).
Top Reasons to Consider vSphere 5:

• Speed of High Availability Features - Performs more simultaneous vMotions, simplifies clustering setup and configuration, and enhances reliability through better resource guarantees and monitoring


• vCenter Now Runs as a Virtual Management Assistant - For small scale deployments, there is no need to purchase an operating system


• Web Client Availability - Allows platform independence (i.e. the ability to run from a smart phone)


• Host Profiling - Permits copying of host settings across multiple ESXi hosts allowing a series of hosts to be deployed and configured in a fraction of the time

To learn more about the new VMware vSphere 5 features as well as improvements to Site Recovery Manager, Click Here or Contact PTS.